Times Of Swaziland: Tsabalaka is best player!

Tsabalaka is best player!
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 Dumisani Ntiwane on 24/08/2012 00:00:00


EZULWINI – Newly signed Manzini Sundowns defender Elias Tsabalaka was last
night crowned the Swazi Telecom Charity Cup Soccer Spectacular’s best player.
It is the Malawian defender’s first individual award since arriving in the
country about six years ago. His name was announced during a poorly attended
function at the Royal Swazi Convention Centre, which sought to award the best
performers of the tournament won by Manzini Sundowns.
Awards Committee Chairman, Dumisani Msibi explained that they considered a
number of aspects before choosing the winner.
Many would have expected Sundowns goalkeeper, Pride Zendera to walk away with
the award after his scintillating displays for the team.
Msibi noted that the criteria used was such that they considered the players’
influence in their respective teams’ success and the players’ leadership
qualities. For his achievement, Tsabalaka took home a cool E8 000. Interviewed
later, the strong defender said he was elated to win his fourth individual award
since his arrival in the country.
"I am over the moon. Naturally I am very excited with the award. I came here
without the slightest clue that I would win but I am very happy that the
committee tasked with selecting the best player thought I did well. "Let me take
the opportunity to thank my teammates for their support because without them I
would not have won the award. I am very happy to have joined a team like
Sundowns and I don’t regret having joined them," an elated Tsabalaka said. He
assured the Sundowns supporters that they will strive to win more titles for the
team this season especially the MTN League crown.
"We should ensure that we regroup soonest and forget about the recent league
defeat if we are to win more trophies. We have a great team which is ready to
take local football by storm," he said. On a night where the Minister of Sports,
Culture and Youth Affairs Hobisile Ndlovu failed to show up and could not even
send a representative, the Premier League of Swaziland (PLS) was also poorly
represented with only two executive members present excluding the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) Zwelonke ‘Sport’ Dlamini.